Organic compounds such as monoethylene glycol (MEG), acetone, isopropanol (IPA) and propene are valuable as raw material in the production of products like polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins (from MEG) and the plastic polypropylene (from propene). These compounds also find use directly for industrial or household purposes.
However, the compounds are currently produced from precursors that originate from fossil fuels, which contribute to climate change. To develop more environmentally friendly processes for the production of MEG and three-carbon compounds such as isopropanol, researchers have engineered microorganisms with biosynthetic pathways to produce MEG or IPA separately. However, these pathways are challenging to implement, with loss of product yield, redox balance and excess biomass formation being some major obstacles to overcome.
Thus there exists a need for improved biosynthesis pathways for the production of MEG and three-carbon compounds such as IPA.